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The 1948 NCAA basketball tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 1948, and ended with the championship game on March 23 in New York City. A total of 10 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (January 2022) |
| Teams | 8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals site | Madison Square Garden New York City | ||||
| Champions | Kentucky Wildcats (1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Baylor Bears (1st title game, 1st Final Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
| ||||
| Winning coach | Adolph Rupp (1st title) | ||||
| MOP | Alex Groza (Kentucky) | ||||
| Attendance | 72,523 | ||||
| Top scorer | Alex Groza (Kentucky) (54 points) | ||||
| |||||
Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp, won the national title with a 58–42 victory in the final game over Baylor, coached by Bill Henderson. Alex Groza of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 1948 tournament:
Regionals
- March 19 and 20
- East Regional, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)
- West Regional, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri (Host: Missouri Valley Conference)
Championship Game
- March 23
- Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (Host: Metropolitan New York Conference)
| Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | ||||||
| East | Columbia | Gordon Ridings | EIBL | Regional Fourth Place | Michigan | L 66–49 |
| East | Holy Cross | Doggie Julian | Independent | Third Place | Kansas State | W 60–54 |
| East | Kentucky | Adolph Rupp | Southeastern | Champion | Baylor | W 58–42 |
| East | Michigan | Ozzie Cowles | Big Ten | Regional third place | Columbia | W 66–49 |
| West | ||||||
| West | Baylor | Bill Henderson | Southwest | Runner-up | Kentucky | L 58–42 |
| West | Kansas State | Jack Gardner | Big Six | Fourth Place | Holy Cross | L 60–54 |
| West | Washington | Art McLarney | Pacific Coast | Regional third place | Wyoming | W 57–47 |
| West | Wyoming | Everett Shelton | Skyline | Regional Fourth Place | Washington | L 57–47 |
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 76 | |||||||||||||
| Columbia | 53 | |||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 60 | |||||||||||||
| Holy Cross | 52 | |||||||||||||
| Holy Cross | 63 | |||||||||||||
| Michigan | 45 | |||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 58 | |||||||||||||
| Baylor | 42 | |||||||||||||
| Kansas State | 58 | |||||||||||||
| Wyoming | 48 | |||||||||||||
| Kansas State | 52 | Third place | ||||||||||||
| Baylor | 60 | |||||||||||||
| Baylor | 64 | Holy Cross | 60 | |||||||||||
| Washington | 62 | Kansas State | 54 | |||||||||||
Regional third place games
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